Kara decided to stay at the cookout after William's story. Despite wanting to leave beforehand, she felt less out of place, now. Plus, she understood that it'd be rude to ditch it when all these people showed up to meet her.
Besides, Mr Hart had given her some... interesting perspective.
Theo was not simply a rude and disrespectful human. He was a rude and disrespectful human grieving a friend. That's something she could relate to in a way. While she had never lost a friend, she had lost her mother. Sometimes she stared into the water and felt so angry and empty. That anger could rear its head at people who didn't deserve it.
Maybe she judged Theo too harshly.
The minutes ticked by into long hours and even more people showed up at the cookout. Kara seen more faces than she could ever hope to remember and tried foods that she'd never heard of before. People talked to her and complimented her, asked her millions of questions, and by the time the sun started to set, her head was aching from all the noise.
Worn down, she found herself a quiet seat on a bench near the back door and sat down to rest.
"You're really going to fix up the house?"
If possible, Kara's heart jumped straight into her throat. She spun her head around to see Theo Hart watching her, his towering frame blocking the light as he leaned on the wall.
"Yes," she said shakily, once she recovered from the fright. This guy moved so sneakily sometimes. That was the third time he had startled her.
"I never thought I'd see that house belong to anyone else. It's... strange. How does it look inside?" This was suspicious. He'd been so cold and rude just this morning and now he was asking how the house was? Kara didn't know if she could trust him or not.
"It looks better than when I moved in. I still have quite a bit of work to do, though," she told him honestly. "It was a little run down and the weeds are damaging the outside walls. Almost all the windows were broken."
"Cracks?"
"I don't know, yet. Maybe." Theo nodded and turned away, crossing his arms. She hadn't noticed before, probably because they were both soaked and worked up from falling in the lake, but he had a nice face. Very somber, but not unattractive.
He looked at her once again and his lips pulled into a frown.
"Where are you staying," he asked. Kara cocked her head, confused.
"I'm staying in the house. 14 Peach Street." That had been the exact cause of their animosity, hadn't it? Was this not that same man, a twin perhaps? Or maybe he had he forgottten.
"No, I mean where are you staying at night until the house is finished. Don't tell me you've just been sleeping on the floor in that dump." Crap, she probably should have expected somebody to ask that question eventually. She had been hoping to have more work done on the house by then, though.
"I have a sleeping bag," she explained. Finally, she saw a new expression cross his face. Utter bewilderment.
"You've been staying in that rotten old shell at night? Seriously? What if some kind of animal got in while you were asleep?" She highly doubted any animal would come near her, but if one did mess with her, her Siren Song would work on it the same as any human.
"I'll be fine. It's actually been very peaceful out there. I haven't really seen a single animal, yet." Actually, now that she thought about it, that was a little odd. Sure it was the tail-end of winter, but there should be some animals coming out of hiding.
"It's not exactly warm at night," he pointed out. "You'll get sick."
"It's practically spring. I haven't been too cold." Kara's body was actually used to shockingly cold water, so to her, this place was on the warm side.
"Wait a minute. Shit, I left you all alone after you fell in the lake," he said, standing up straight and looking at her with open concern at his horrified realization. "I just- that was completely-"
"Fine, it's fine," Kara interrupted. "I changed into some dry clothes and honestly the sun was shining nicely so I warmed up fast. Besides, you got just as wet as I did."
"Yeah, but I live in a house with central heating and you live in a fricken box full of holes." Okay, little rude.
"That 'box full of holes' is my home; I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult it."
"It's-!" He shut his mouth and took a breath. Then another. Quieter, he said with his eyes shut tight, "I'm sorry."
Oh! Caught off guard, Kara had no retort for him. She hadn't pegged him as the sort of man who apologized so easily. Or at all...
"It's... It's okay." They wound up staring at each other in silence after that. Kara studied him shamelessly in an effort to understand his true thoughts, his true motives, but she only came up with more questions.
Why did he look at her like that? Why had his attitude shifted so drastically all of a sudden? Why was he staring back at her without saying anything?
Theo opened his mouth, then, just as a high pitched voice reached them.
"Oh, there ya are!" Saved by Mrs Hart. The short woman came through the archway from the dining room and shot a look between the two of them. "Am I interruptin' here?"
"Not at all, ma'am," Kara assured her quickly.
"Well, I boxed up some leftovers for ya t' take home, dear. Consider it my way of sayin' sorry for keepin' ya out so late."
Donna gave her a fairly big bag full of sealed dishes which Kara accepted gratefully. Until she had a kitchen, she'd gladly scarf down leftovers. As soon as Donna handed the bag over, the woman glanced at the window with a worried frown. "Very late, actually. Dear, I can't have ya walkin' home all by ya lonesome in the da'k. Maybe..."
"I'll walk her home," Theo stated with a shrug.
"You don't have to do that," Kara said quickly, an instant attempt to turn him down despite knowing the end result already. These people had rules and customs and try as she might, they wouldn't break from them. The last thing she wanted to do was follow him through the woods again, but he'd insist.
Because he was just so human.
"I'm walking you home," he told her directly in a tone that held little room for argument. Well, she could definitely argue it actually, but things were already tense enough. Kara did her best to bite back any snappy retorts and just nodded her head awkwardly.
"Be careful walking around out there in the dark," Donna warned them both. She gave Theo a look before heading into the kitchen.
Talking without speaking, again. Kara wondered what those little looks meant.
"I really can walk back on my own," Kara trie once again. Granted she didn't have the best night vision on land and the trail was difficult to follow, but it was so close by, she really just had to stay walking straight and she'd probably find it.
"And I really can walk you," Theo countered. Before she could protest, he was already opening the door for her. Sighing heavily, Kara stepped outside.
Theo didn't walk far ahead and leave her behind like last time. They actually stayed a few steps from each other, walking in relative silence with an almost comfortable air settling over them.
When they reached the woods, she immediately stumbled over a stick. The air went from dusky to pitch black.
Okay, she was mature enough to admit it was darker than she expected. And with her unsteady legs, a pain.
To his credit, Theo slowed down even more for her as she struggled to step over obstacles she couldn't see. Unlike her, he didn't so much as falter in the dark. The way he moved was somehow graceful.
Compared to her, that is.
Her skirt got caught on some thorns and it tripped her up, but he moved in a blur and she never touched the ground.
"You're remarkably clumsy," he mumbled as he righted her and started to gently tug her skirt free of the thorns. "This might end up with some holes torn in it."
"It's fine, I'm not too attached to it. Rip it free if you have to." With a hum, Theo yanked the cloth free. "Thanks."
"It's best to wear clothes that don't snag out here," he told her. Kara took another step, but tripped over a rock or maybe a root jutting into the path. Once again, Theo had her. He wrapped an arm under her and lifted, bringing her up to his chest.
"Clumsy may be too much of an understatement. Sorry, but I'd like to be home before midnight," he explained, adjusting her in his arms with a snort and picking up the bag she'd dropped. Kara didn't respond, too shocked by his actions to even speak.
He was carrying her. A human man was carrying her. Kara didn't know if she should be disgusted or impressed.
Theo started walking again and Kara held onto him tightly just in case he dropped her. If she went down, she was taking him with.
Theo didn't drop her, thankfully, and they reached the edge of the woods without any accidents. Instead of putting her down there, he took her straight to her door before carefully lowering her to her feet.
"Thanks," she rasped, still shocked and at a loss for words. That had been the longest a human had ever touched her, held her.
"No sweat. Literally, you're tiny. Not as small as my mom, but tiny still." Was that some kind of weird compliment or an insult? Kara wished she was in her old body so she could tower over him. Unfortunately, she had to settle for glaring up at him and fantasizing about flicking that smirk off his face.
"Well, bad manners notwithstanding, I still appreciate your help. Goodnight, Mister Hart." He wrinkled his nose.
"Mister? Everyone calls my dad that. Just call me Theo." Hopefully she wouldn't have to call him anything after today. Kara wanted some peace and quiet, or at least a break from these people. "Goodnight."
He turned to go and Kara stepped after him.
"Theo, wait." He startled, looking back at her with wide eyes. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it looked like that unhappy look on his face had been replaced with a flush.
"Yeah?" Kara pointed to the bag over his shoulder.
"My food?" Theo looked down at the bag, confused, and coughed to hide his clear embarrassment. He handed it over to her quickly.
"Sorry, I forgot, uh... sorry. Goodnight." He left quickly after that and Kara couldn't stop herself from chuckling.
With her food back in her arms, she opened her door and headed inside, exhausted but also feeling lighter than air. She had never felt like this out of the water before. Almost content.
Inside, she set the bag down and looked down at her torn and dirtied skirt. Usually she would just turn ruined clothes back into water, but...
With a tired yawn, Kara stripped the skirt off and folded it up to set down by the bag. Maybe she'd keep this one. Just this once. It was a nice skirt, that's all.
"Okay. Bedtime." Kara padded to the back door softly and slid it open with another yawn. Today was good. Strange, upsetting, tiring, and yet good.
The moonlight cast across the lake as she slipped into the water and Kara took a moment to just look and appreciate.
A small smile tugged at her lips.
"Thanks, Mom." Kara sank down and curled up on the lake bed, still smiling.